Norfolk!

Norfolk, my favourite place for birds in Britain. It may not be the most scenic of locations, a hill being quite a rarity, but the vast areas of reedbeds and coastal marshes are a haven for wildlife. Over the summer I was fortunate enough to spend a few days there, where I focused on one of my favourite birds, Bearded Reedlings (tits). Not only are they extremely difficult to obtain clear views of, they are also extremely charesmatic. Conditions have to be perfect with no wind, and it can't be too hot, otherwise they seem to prefer to hunker down in the reeds! I was very fortunate as I had fantastic views of both Male and Female birds. In terms of birding it was also great, with a number of scarcities being seen, including a new species for me, a Common Scoter. They are extremely common I know but I have never confidently seen one. Being a sea duck it was predictably miles out, but nice to see. On the drive back from Norfolk, we decided to stop off at Abbey Farm, a great little place near Kings Lynn. It is simply a farm, however the owner has made a conscious effort to maintain the farm with wildlife in mind. One of the star attractions are the little owls, and I managed to obtain this rather dodgy record shot of one. More Recently, I was fortunate enough to see a Little Owl very locally, so I will be contacted the land owners in the next few days in the hope over the winter I can start a mini Little Owl project. Other plans for the winter include Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, and of course my worst enemy, the Bittern. Below are my images from Norfolk, I am particularly pleased with my Bearded Reedling efforts this year, being much better than my previous attempts.

On another note, in addition to my Highly Commended image in the BWPA (British Wildlife Photography Awards) this year, I have also won the 'Small Mammals' Category in the Hampshire Wildlife Trust's Competion. However perhaps more excitingly, out of the 4 Junior Categories in Marwell Wildlife's (Zoo) photograph compeition, I won 3 of them, and the overall Junior Compeition. Links are below! http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2012-10-05/wildlife-photos-of-the-year/ http://www.hwt.org.uk/pages/photocomp2012.html

BWPA Success

I can now very proudly announce that I have been highly commended in the British Wildlife Photography Awards with the image below. As you can imagine I am extremely chuffed with my achievement.

Sorry I haven't blogged for ages but you can expect to see some Red Kites, Siskins, Bearded Reedlings and Kingfishers in the coming weeks, so check soon for an update!

Kingfishers, Dartfords and Turnstones

Well it looks as if over the summer holidays I am going to be unable to keep this blog updated for every trip out with the camera, (there's just too many!) so once again this is going to be an update containing my ventures over the past week or so. I took another visit to Dinton Pastures and although I didn't see the Mink again, it appears it has caused yet more devastation at the Tern colonies and has wiped out birds on another raft - hopefully over the winter this mink will be trapped as it has been responsible for the destruction of many nests this year. Luckily, some Terns had obviously escaped the raids as there was a juvenile Tern in front of the hide and was being fed by the adult in mid air, allowing for some nice action shots, although, unfortunately I had to shoot against the light!

It was then (finally!!) my birthday for which I received a Sony A77. There is still a lot to learn about the camera but I am loving the 24mp sensor and 12fps, both of which are extremely useful for bird photography. To learn more about this amazing camera I spent an afternoon photographing Kingfishers, the results of which can be found on my 500px account: http://500px.com/Alex_Berryman The week also held my first ever trip to Chobham Common which is possibly one of the best examples of heathland I have seen. Although my searches for Snakes were fruitless, a Male Sand Lizard bolted across the path in front of me and I was privileged enough to spend around an hour in the company of a pair of Dartford Warblers which are truly magical birds! The wind really didn't help and they were spending the majority of the time very low in the extremely dense heather but on one occasion the male Dartford Warbler distantly sat at the top of the heather. This is where the A77 really comes into its own and the photograph below is a 100% crop on the original. Other species seen include my first Parasitoid Wasps and on of my favourite butterflies, the Grayling.

And finally, my trip to one of my favourite nature reserves, Titchfield Haven. Being located along the coast, there are always masses of wading birds at Titchfield, and it continues to amaze just how few birders and photographers visit the place. For photography it is fantastic with birds often being located very close to one of the 7 hides. Perhaps some of my best views of birds were obtained on the seashore by the visitor centre, where around 80 Turnstones, the majority still in full summer plumage were feeding. They are remarkably tame birds though extremely difficult to focus as they are just never still! This is where once again the A77 is extremely useful as it has Object Tracking. I also saw a Rock Pipit, my first for a VERY long time and it is a species I have never seen reported at Titchfield. On the reserve itself we saw Green Sandpipers, Common Sandpipers, Black Tailed Godwits, Little Egrets but I managed to get my best ever shots of Reed Warblers, which I spent a lot of time photographing.

Many Thanks, as always, for reading and I hope you like the pics as much as I have enjoyed taking them! I'm off to Norfolk for a few days next week where I am hoping for Bearded Tits and Spoonbills so be sure to check back soon! After Norfolk I will be putting a lot of time into a local Kingfisher project which I have been working on the past few weeks.